


A Pleasant Surprise

by MacyAudenStar



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-04
Updated: 2014-02-04
Packaged: 2018-01-11 03:11:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1167956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MacyAudenStar/pseuds/MacyAudenStar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thea and Barry spend some time together while he's visiting Felicity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Pleasant Surprise

**Author's Note:**

> For girlwithsixsmiles, thecoolcheryl, and ohemgeeitscoley. Thanks, as always, to girlwithsixsmiles for betaing!

“Thea, I need a favor.”

Thea spun around, clipboard in hand from doing the inventory, to see her brother standing two feet away from her, Felicity and Mr. Diggle not far behind. “What is it?”

“Well, it’s more like I need a favor,” Felicity started. Thea looked her over, realizing that the other girl looked especially annoyed.

“I have an emergency business meeting that I need to attend to out of town,” Oliver continued, shooting Felicity an impatient look. “I need my assistant and my driver to come with me,” Felicity rolled her eyes at Oliver’s back before realizing that Thea had caught her and looked away guiltily. “Felicity had other plans this weekend. That’s where you come in.”

Thea smiled and tilted her head a little. “I don’t understand. Where do I come in?”

Felicity stepped forward. “My friend Barry is visiting town from Central City. I was going to pick him up from the train station, take him out to dinner, get him settled in my guest room. He just got out of a coma a few weeks ago, and this is his first time leaving Central City since then. I really didn’t want him to have to take a cab and be all awkward not knowing where to go and everything.” Felicity pushed her glasses up her nose and paused. “It would be a great help to me, if you wouldn’t mind, if you could pick him up from the train station and take him to my apartment. He can order in Chinese or something. And I’ve got plenty of movies.”

“We should be back tonight, it’s just going to be kind of late,” Oliver supplied.

Thea looked back and forth between Felicity and Mr. Diggle, the former who was still looking annoyed, and the latter who was as blank faced and stoic as ever. She shrugged. “Sure, if it would help Felicity out. I actually like her,” she said teasingly.

Mr. Diggle smirked and shook his head while Felicity let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you so much, Thea. If you ever need anything, just let me know. I owe you one.”

Thea smiled. “Don’t worry about it. It will do me some good to get out of the club for a little while. I’ll just put Jack in charge.” And she’d be happy to get away from Roy for the night. Ever since he said he needed space to deal with “things” after he put that guy in the hospital, even their working relationship had been icy. She didn’t expect to get along with her ex, but she expected him to remain professional at the club. And he was, he was just a little more short with her than she thought he really had the right to be. He broke up with her, after all.

Felicity gave Thea a spare key, telling her to put it on the kitchen counter later, and showed her a picture of Barry so Thea would know who to look for. “Unless you want to hold up a sign that says ‘Barry Allen’ on it at the train station,” Mr. Diggle offered up under his breath. Thea ignored him and studied the picture. He was cute in a lanky, clean cut kind of way. Felicity thanked her again, three more times to be exact, until Oliver practically dragged her out, mumbling under his breath about a plane they had to catch.

Thea checked the time, realizing she still had an hour before she needed to get going, and finished up the inventory she was doing. After that, she informed Jack that he’d be needing to take care of the closing duties that night, and left to pick up Barry.

He was the first one off the train, and looked to be in pretty decent shape for someone who had been in the hospital only a few weeks beforehand. She caught his eye and smiled before walking over to him. “Hi, you’re Barry, right?” He was decidedly more attractive in person. And taller than she thought he would be.

He nodded in confirmation. “And you are Thea Queen? Younger sister of Oliver Queen?” Thea raised her eyebrows at him in surprise. “Sorry, I recognize you from the news, although you’re much prettier in person than in all of the pictures.” Thea grinned, amused, and he winced at his own words before continuing, “Felicity texted me and told me that you’d be picking me up. Thank you, by the way. You didn’t have to do that. I’m sure you have better, more exciting things you could be doing.”

Thea shrugged and began walking toward the exit, Barry following after her. “I don’t mind, gets me out of the club for the night. And Felicity’s a great person, I didn’t mind doing her the favor.” Barry held the door open for her to leave the train station, taking her by surprise. It wasn’t a surprise that he was a gentleman (although most guys their age couldn’t be bothered to open doors for women anymore), but it was a surprise how quickly he moved to the door. He was a good three steps behind her just before that. She hadn’t even realized that he had picked up his pace.

“Gets you out of the club?” He startled her out of her reverie. “Oh, do you mean Verdant? What do you do there?”

Thea popped open the trunk of her car, allowing him to stuff his overnight bag inside. “I run it. I’m the GM.”

“I feel like I should be surprised about how young you are, but…”

Thea smirked as Barry gestured at himself. “But everyone thinks you look about 12?”

“Exactly.”

“So, Felicity gave me her spare key, she said that you could order some takeout or something and watch some movies there,” Thea smiled at him. “Or you and I could go get dinner? I’m hungry and since I’m not working at the club tonight, I’m free to hang out.”

He smiled shyly, making him look even cuter, she realized. “Really? You want to hang out with me for the night?”

“Yeah. We’ll go out to dinner and then figure things out from there. Does that sound ok?”

“Sure. It’s just, girls like you don’t usually hang out with guys like me.”

Thea put her car in gear, weighing his words for a moment. “What do you mean girls like me?”

“You know, gorgeous, confident girls. Your boyfriend is probably an Abercrombie model or something, right?”

Thea bit her lip and tried not to laugh at his accurate description of Roy. “He’s not my boyfriend anymore.” 

Barry laughed. “But he was an Abercrombie model?”

“No, but he was an ass. And you seem sweet. Why shouldn’t I want to spend time with you? Now, I hope you’re in the mood for Chinese food, because ever since Felicity mentioned it earlier, I’ve had a craving for crab rangoon and broccoli beef.”

Barry smiled widely. “Yeah, that sounds great. Whatever you want.”

Thea drove them to the Imperial Palace, making small talk along the way. When she parked the door, she was surprised, once again, that he reached her door to open it before she’d even taken her keys out of the ignition.

“Thank you,” she said slowly. “You’re really quick.”

Barry looked embarrassed, ducking his head with a pained look on his face. “Yeah, um, I’m sorry.”

Thea shook her head. “Nothing to be sorry for. Just weird, that’s all.”

Barry stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Yeah, it is. It’s something I’ve noticed since my coma.”

“You’ve moved quicker since then? Were you in a freak accident or something?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t really understand it. Could you maybe not tell anyone about that? Not even Felicity? Or your brother? He doesn’t like me very much. And I’ll tell her when I’m ready, I’m just not ready yet.”

Thea placed her hand on his arm. “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me. Just, you might want to learn to reel that in a little bit.”

Barry chuckled lightly. “Probably a good idea.”

She ducked under his arm the next time he held the door open for her. “So, Oliver doesn’t like you?”

Barry rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “It’s not a big deal. I think I just rub him the wrong way.”

She took the hint and didn’t ask him to expand on his reasoning there, instead standing in silence while they waited in line at the hostess stand. They were seated a few minutes later. After placing their orders, he said, “How did you end up the general manager for your brother?”

“Originally it was his best friend Tommy, they had some sort of falling out,” Thea swallowed hard, trying to ignore the sadness that she felt whenever she thought about Tommy. “Oliver never got around to hiring another manager. When he left to go on his little jaunt to Europe last summer, I just sort of took over.”

“And you like it?”

“I do. I’m really good at what I do, actually. I love it. What about you? What do you do? Felicity and Oliver implied that you’re smart.”

“I mean, I’m not... I’m sort of smart, I guess. I was an assistant for a forensics specialist, although I got fired when your brother made me miss my train last time I visited. I know the captain though, I’m working to get into his good graces again. Get my job back. Felicity says she could force Oliver into creating a job for me, but I really don’t want that for at least ten good reasons.” Barry paused. “I’m talking too much.”

“No,” Thea said, amused. “You’re fine. What are you doing this weekend with Felicity?”

“I don’t know. She thought it would be nice for me to get out of Central City for awhile, you know? I wasn’t doing anything, so I just decided why not. I’m not certain what she has planned. Although with her job, who knows what could happen.”

“Hopefully Oliver will give her a break for the rest of the weekend. If he doesn’t, we’ll have words. Are you and Felicity…?”

Barry smiled at that. “Together? No. We’re not together. There was a sort of a thing before, but we’re not like that anymore. Not that we were ever like that. But we’re definitely not together. She’s into your brother anyway.”

Thea thought back for a moment, running through all of the recent times she’d seen Oliver and Felicity together. She could definitely see that they might have a bit of a thing. Maybe once Oliver got over himself, and Laurel, a little bit. Felicity, or someone like her, would be good for Oliver. Thea shrugged. “Her loss then,” she said with a grin.

Barry ducked his head again. “No, your brother, he’s a cool guy. Once you get used to his gruffness. It’s easy to see how someone could develop feelings for him.”

Thea leaned forward, placing her chin in the palm of her hand. “So, how fast can you go, anyway?”

“I don’t actually know. I’m actually a little freaked out by the whole thing. I haven’t looked into it much.” Barry quieted when the server arrived with their food order.

“We could find out,” Thea offered. “We could go to the track with a stopwatch and I could time you.”

Barry grinned slowly. “Why do you want to do that?”

Thea shrugged. “I don’t know. I feel like it can’t be fun, not knowing what’s going on with yourself. You aren’t exactly asking other people for help.” She was surprised he said anything to her, even though she did call him out. “I’m just offering to help you figure it out.”

Barry stared at her for a moment before speaking again, and she couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed. Why did she offer to do that for him? “You’re more than what they make of you in the papers, aren’t you? I mean, I don’t know why I’m surprised, of course you aren’t some spoiled brat, no one is who the papers say they are. Although, did you really date Justin Bieber?” 

Thea made a face and shook her head in denial. “That’s good. I sound like such a weird stalker. My friend is a reporter. She is obsessed with all types of news. Newspapers are all over the place at home.”

“Does that mean you’ll let me help you?”

Barry smiled at her. “Yes, that means I’ll let you help me.”

“Not tonight though. I’ll pick you up from Felicity’s tomorrow morning, before you two do whatever it is she has planned for you.”

“That sounds good. And tonight?”

“Tonight, you and I are going to have some fun. You can pretend like you’re normal for awhile, and I’ll pretend that I don’t spend every Friday night working at a club and receiving sullen looks from my ex-boyfriend.”

“Something normal? Like what?”

“I don’t know. I was never normal. How does putt-putt sound?”

“I don’t remember the last time I played putt-putt. That sounds fun.”

Thea grinned. “Perfect. I can’t wait to serve you your ass on a platter, Barry Allen.”

They ate quickly, excited to get Paul’s Putt-Putt and Arcade. She chose a purple ball, “fit for a queen,” she teased when she took it, and he picked red. At Hole 7, Thea glanced behind them, only a little embarrassed to see a line gathering. They were both terrible. Five holes in, they decided to stop counting the strokes. She was pretty sure there was a five stroke limit per hole, but she resolved to ignore it, happily, until someone called them out.

By Hole 18, they’d decided to let the other people pass them, although he’d gotten better around ten holes in, twelve for her.

“You know if you get a hole in one, we get 20 free tokens, right?” Thea asked seriously as he lined up his shot.

“But no pressure, right?”

“Oh, no, I’m totally bringing the pressure,” she teased. “You told me three holes ago that it was just basic geometry or some bullshit like that. I want my 20 free tokens.”

Barry smirked. “Then you should have made your own hole-in-one, Queen.”

“Think of it like you’re trying to win me the giant bear at a carnival. Barry, these tokens are my giant bear.”

Barry shook his head as he swung his club. They both watched, frozen, as the ball went up the hill, across the bridge, and made it under the windmill at just the right time.

“You did it!” Thea exclaimed, throwing her arms around him.

He stiffened under her hug, before wrapping his arms around her carefully. “Easy. Now, what did you say I get? Twenty tokens?”

Thea put some distance between them and poked him in the ribs. “Hey, you better share those tokens with me, sir.”

“We’ll see,” he teased with a little smirk. They turned in their clubs and received their tokens from the man working behind the counter. Neither were surprised to realize twenty tokens didn’t go very far at a place like that, but they had fun playing games while it lasted.

When Thea pulled up in front of Felicity’s apartment building later, she almost didn’t want to let him go. She took his cell phone from him and entered her phone number into it, texting herself in the process. “See you tomorrow, bright and early.”

Barry nodded. “I look forward to it. And, thanks, for tonight. I don’t remember the last time I had that much fun.”

Thea smiled widely at him, leaning across her gear shift to kiss him on the cheek. “Me either. Sweet dreams, Barry.” She could see the blush rising on his cheeks, even in the dark of her car, as he fumbled for the door. She popped the trunk for him to get his bag out, and he waved as he walked into Felicity’s building.

She couldn’t help but smile a little on her way home, pleasantly surprised by her evening. And she couldn’t wait to see what the morning held, helping him with his mystery.

**Author's Note:**

> I can be found at macyaudenstarr.tumblr.com, if you want to stop and say hello!


End file.
